Johannesburg - Renowned Amapiano sensation, Lady Du is leading a TikTok challenge to create awareness about hearing loss in children and address the need for accessible, clinically sound hearing tests.
Notable network provider, Vodacom collaborated with Amapiano musician Duduzile “Lady Du” Ngwenya, and hearZA - an app that was developed in South Africa in bringing this challenge to life.
The aim of the challenge is greater socio-economic bearing – to ensure that every child has the opportunity to reach their full potential.
According to Professor De Wet Swanepoel, lead inventor of the hearZA app, a hearing challenge is socially relevant one way to quickly assess a person's hearing ability by using a speech-in-noise test.
During this test, a person listens to a recording of speech, while a background noise like static or music is played at the same time.
To achieve the target audience of children and teenagers, the challenge was placed on the social media platform TikTok, as it is surging in popularity amongst South Africa’s Gen Z.
Working with producers DJ Stresser and Given Kanu as well as artist Lady Du, the Vodacom TikTok hearing challenge replicated the methods used in a speech-in-noise test.
The music functioned as the noise, while Lady Du's vocal ad-libs acted as the speech input.
The campaign launched on TikTok, inviting users to test their hearing.
"We are proud to be part of this initiative. Campaigns such as this can help many children and teenagers who do not have access to medical services or are unable to articulate their needs. The campaign spreads the message successfully, ensuring that everyone from the remotest areas to the most bustling of cities has access to a simple, yet potentially life-changing, hearing test,” said hearZA.
Sunaina Parbhu, Vodacom’s Social Media Portfolio Manager added: "We are proud to be part of this initiative. Our goal and purpose have always been to connect people for a better future, it’s amazing to be able to use technology to ensure that everyone has access to good health and wellbeing, and to do it in such an engaging and fun way.”
VMLY&R Creative Director, Simon Fabricus says: “We felt there had to be a better way to capture Gen Z's attention and make them aware of this problem. We came up with an innovative idea that uses social media to get more kids to test their hearing.”
The Star